Method apparatus system and computer program product for automated collection and correlation for tactical information

ABSTRACT

A method, and corresponding system, apparatus, and computer program product for automated collection and correlation for tactical information includes identifying an entity in imagery based on a field of view of the imagery using a processor, creating a relationship between the imagery and the entity, and storing the relationship in a database.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application61/174,871, filed on May 1, 2009, and incorporated in its entirety byreference hereto.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Exemplary embodiments relate generally to data collection, and moreparticularly to automated collection and correlation for tacticalinformation.

2. Related Art

A number of Unmanned Vehicles (UV), vehicles operated without drivers orpilots, have come to be used in modern times. UV include Unmanned GroundVehicles (UGVs), land-based vehicles driven without a driver, andUnmanned Air Vehicles (UAV), aircrafts flown without a pilot. A numberof different UAVs have grown in modern times. Exemplary types of UAVsoffered by the UAV industry include organic air vehicles (OAVs), microair vehicles (MAVs), and unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs).

Conventionally, information from an UAV is broadcasted to a remotesensor ground station. The remote sensor ground station gathers andrecords many hours of video, which is saved to a tape or DVD. Data isextracted from live collection points and manually moved to an analysissystem. Analysts then seek through hours of imagery to find relevantintelligence. Analyzation using this method may be time consuming andresource intensive. Additionally, the growing use of unmanned aerialvehicles (UAV) surveillance has resulted in an increase in the amount oftactical information from UAVs that must be analyzed.

SUMMARY

In an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, a method,computer readable medium, and a device is disclosed. According to oneembodiment, a method for automated collection and correlation fortactical information may be provided. The method may include identifyingan entity in imagery based on a field of view of the imagery using aprocessor, creating a relationship between the imagery and the entity,and storing the relationship in a database.

According to another embodiment, a computer readable medium storingcomputer, readable program code is provided. The code may cause acomputer to perform a method for automated collection and correlationfor tactical information, the method including receiving criteria forcapturing imagery, monitoring a field of view of a remote sensor using aprocessor, identifying an intersection of the field of view and thecriteria using the processor, and instructing imagery of the remotesensor to be captured based on the identification.

According to another embodiment, a device for automated collection andcorrelation for tactical information may be provided. The device mayinclude means for receiving imagery and telemetry data from a remotesensor, means for receiving entity information, and means forcorrelating the imagery with the entity information based on thetelemetry data.

Further features and advantages of the invention, as well as thestructure and operation of various exemplary embodiments of theinvention, are described in detail below with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will beapparent from the following, more particular description of exemplaryembodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicateidentical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements.The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by theleftmost digits in the corresponding reference number. A preferredexemplary embodiment is discussed below in the detailed description ofthe following drawings:

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary diagram of a system of unmanned aerialvehicles and a terminal in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary logical diagram of the type and flow ofinformation in the system in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary diagram of the components and capabilitiesof the system in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIGS. 4A, 4B depict exemplary depictions of the physical components ofthe system in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary block diagram of the components of aterminal of the system in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary flowchart for creating relationships inaccordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary flowchart for capturing imagery in,accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary detailed block diagram of the components ofa terminal of the system in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 9 depicts an exemplary interface of a terminal of the system inaccordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 10 depicts an exemplary alternate view of an interface of theterminal of the system in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary view of an interface of the terminalproviding symbol overlay in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 12 depicts an exemplary view of an interactive interface of theterminal providing imagery annotation in accordance with exemplaryembodiments;

FIG. 13 depicts an exemplary view of a text extraction tool of aninterface of the terminal in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 14 depicts an exemplary view of an interface of the terminal of thesystem which may support searches and manipulation of entities inaccordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 15 depicts an exemplary time wheel of an interface of the terminalof the system in accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 16 depicts an exemplary diagram of a system of unmanned aerialvehicle with a portable and stationary terminal in accordance withexemplary embodiments;

FIG. 17 depicts an exemplary view of a portable terminal of the systemin accordance with exemplary embodiments;

FIG. 18 depicts an exemplary diagram of the flow of information betweena portable terminal and a stationary terminal in accordance withexemplary embodiments;

FIG. 19 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a computer system that may beused in association with, in connection with, and/or in place of certaincomponents in accordance with the present embodiments;

FIG. 20 depicts an exemplary diagram of a relationship diagram depictedby an interface of the terminal in accordance with the presentembodiments;

FIG. 21 depicts an exemplary expanded diagram of a relationship diagramdepicted by an interface of the terminal in accordance with the presentembodiments;

FIG. 22 depicts an exemplary diagram of the creation of a relationshipin a relationship diagram depicted by an interface of the terminal inaccordance with the present embodiments;

FIG. 23 depicts an exemplary diagram of an exemplary result of acreation of a relationship in a relationship diagram depicted by aninterface of the terminal in accordance with the present embodiments;

FIG. 24 depicts an exemplary diagram of hardware types of the system inaccordance with the present embodiments;

FIG. 25 depicts an exemplary diagram of an interface of the terminaldepicting a link diagram displaying relationships between variousentities; and

FIG. 26 depicts an exemplary diagram of a detailed view of a map of theinterface of the terminal representing entities and the field of view ofan image.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Various exemplary embodiments are discussed in detail below including apreferred embodiment. While specific implementations are discussed, itshould be understood that this is done for illustration purposes only. Aperson skilled in the relevant art can recognize that the systems,methods and features provided herein may be used without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention. Furthermore, any and allreferences cited herein shall be incorporated herein by reference intheir respective entireties.

Exemplary Embodiments

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary diagram 100 of a system of unmanned aerialvehicles (UAV) 102A and 102B (hereinafter collectively referred to as102) and a terminal 104 in accordance with exemplary embodiments.According to an exemplary embodiment of the system, UAVs 102 may be usedto gather information to be displayed on the interface of a terminal104, for example, using one or more cameras or video recorders locatedon the UAV 102. The terminal 104 may provide a single user interface forthe simultaneous collection and analysis of intelligence from multipleremote sensing systems, such as, e.g., but not limited to, UAVs 102. Forexample, information may alternatively or additionally be gathered byone or more UGVs. According to an exemplary embodiment, the terminal 104may provide real-time correlation of intelligence data with imagery,such as, e.g., but not limited to, video snapshots or real-time video.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the method may integrate liveremote sensor intelligence with analysis workflows executed by theterminal. Workflows may be a sequence of steps with decision boundariesdefining different steps for different conditions. One workflow mayallow a user to automatically capture geo-referenced intelligence from aremote sensor into a relational database. Another workflow may createrelationships between the intelligence imagery (such as, e.g., but notlimited to, video clips and/or snapshots, etc.) and entities in thedatabase (such as, e.g., but not limited to, person, vehicle, event,and/or facility, etc.).

In an exemplary embodiment, the platforms may be various manned orunmanned air vehicles, ground stations or any remote sensing device.According to an exemplary embodiment, two methods for collectingintelligence may be: (1) manual collection, and (2) automatedcollection.

In an exemplary embodiment, in the manual collection method, a user maymonitor information from a remote sensor and manually indicate when theinformation from the remote sensor should be captured to the database.

According to an exemplary embodiment, in the automated collectionmethod, a user may define criteria for information to be captured, suchas, e.g., but not limited to, areas of interest or entities of interest.In an exemplary embodiment, information from the remote platform may beautomatically captured when the criteria is met, such as, e.g., but notlimited to, when an area of interest or entity of interest falls withinthe field of view of a sensor.

In an exemplary embodiment, when imagery is captured it may also beimmediately geo-referenced (i.e., saved with all its geo-spatialinformation), automatically associated with entities which exist in thesensor's field of view, and stored in the database. Correlationinformation relating the imagery and entities may be associated with theimagery and also saved in the database.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary logical diagram 200 of the type and flow ofinformation in the system in accordance with exemplary embodiments.According to an exemplary embodiment, data from one or more UAVs 102 ofone or more types may be gathered by the terminal 104. In an exemplaryembodiment, each UAV 102 may be considered a platform. The UAVs 102 mayprovide live intelligence 202 that may feed into powerful analysis tools204 of the terminal 104, which may be backed by a searchable relationaldatabase 206.

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary diagram of the components and capabilitiesof the system in accordance with exemplary embodiments. According to anexemplary embodiment, the remote sensing platform 302, e.g., such as,but not limited to, an UAV, may be used to observe an individual 304.The remote sensing platform 302 may provide the information to theterminal 306 using a live downlink 308. The terminal 306 may use theinformation for database storage, geo-spatialization, link analysis,text extraction and data visualization. In an exemplary embodiment, theterminal 306 may provide an interface 310 displaying informationcollected from the UAV. The interface may display graphical data suchas, e.g., but not limited to, maps, relational charts, textual analysis,bar charts, time wheels, grids, and documents, etc.

FIGS. 4A-4B depict exemplary depictions 400 and 410 of the physicalcomponents of the system in accordance with exemplary embodiments.Referring to FIG. 4A, according to an exemplary embodiment, the terminal402 may directly communicate and control the UAV 404 via a receivingground radio 406. The UAV 404 may transmit information it receives fromsensory input to a receiving ground radio 406. In an exemplaryembodiment, the receiving ground radio 406 may then provide the data tothe terminal 402. The data from the UAV 404 may be encoded and theterminal 402 may decode the data from the UAV 404. In an exemplaryembodiment, the terminal 402 may directly control the radio of the UAV404. The terminal 402 may use a vehicle generic interface based on aremote video terminal system interface, allowing expansion to supportother types of manned & unmanned platforms.

Referring to FIG. 4B, according to another exemplary embodiment, theterminal 402 may use remote video terminal system 412 technology tocommunicate with the UAV 404. In an exemplary embodiment, UAV 404 maytransmit information it receives from sensory input to a complete remotevideo terminal system 412. The remote video terminal system 412 maydecode the data link from the UAV 404 and provide the information to theterminal 402. In an exemplary embodiment, a separate remote videoterminal system 412 system may be used for each live remote platform toperform all radio control and data link decoding. According to anexemplary embodiment, the information provided from the remote videoterminal system 412 to the terminal 402 may be in the form of the MotionImagery Standards Board's (MISB) Engineer Guidance (EG) 0601.1. Theterminal 402 may read MPEG2 transport streams (TS) with MPEG2 or H264video elementary stream, or MISB EG 0601.1 Key Linked Value (KLV)telemetry elementary stream. According to an exemplary embodiment, theMPEG2 TS can come from a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) network stream ora file source.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary block diagram 500 of the components 502 of aterminal 504 of the system in accordance with exemplary embodiments.According to an exemplary embodiment, multiple radios 506 of multipleUAVs may be linked to and communicate with a terminal 504. In anexemplary embodiment, the terminal 504 may communicate with the radios506 using components 502 for radio control, downlink decoding and/orplatform specific knowledge. The radio control component may be used tocontrol the radios. The downlink decoding component may be used todecode information received from the radios. The platform specific logiccomponent may be used for compatibility with specific types of remoteplatforms.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the terminal 504 may also includecomponents 502 to interface with the data gathered from the radios 506.A user interface component may provide an interface for users to viewand modify the data gathered. A map component may provide mapfunctionality for the terminal 504 to display and receive map basedinformation. A sensor imagery component may display or analyze sensorimages. The terminal may have analysis tool components for analyzing thedata gathered from the radios.

FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary flowchart 600 for creating relationships inaccordance with exemplary embodiments. According to an exemplaryembodiment, the system may integrate live remote sensor intelligencewith analysis workflows. The system may allow a user to automaticallycapture geo-referenced intelligence from a remote sensor into arelational database. According to an exemplary embodiment, onceintelligence is captured to the database, the user may be able to createrelationships between the intelligence imagery (such as, e.g., but notlimited to, video clips, snapshots) and entities in the database (suchas, e.g., but not limited to, person, vehicle, facility, etc.).

According to an exemplary embodiment, flowchart 600 may begin with 602and continue with 604. In 604, the system may receive imagery 604.According to an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may gatherintelligence simultaneously from multiple platforms (such as, e.g., butnot limited to, various manned or unmanned air vehicles, ground stationsor any remote sensing device). Imagery may be taken by the platforms andprovided to the terminal.

From 604, flowchart 600 may continue with 606. In 606, the system maydetermine the field of view of the imagery. According to an exemplaryembodiment, the imagery may be immediately geo-referenced (such as,e.g., but not limited to, saved with all its geo-spatial information)when taken. In an exemplary embodiment, the geo-spatial information mayinclude information that defines the field of view in the imagery, suchas, e.g., but not limited to, the longitude and latitude positions offour corners defining a location in the image. The four corners may bethe four corners of a rectangular image.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the four corners of the locationin the image may be determined based off the telemetry data, angle,altitude, orientation and/or position of the remote platform. In anexample, the position of the remote platform may be based on GlobalPositioning System (GPS) information. In an exemplary embodiment, thefour corners of the location may be calculated based on calculating theview of a sensor of the UAV using the position of the sensor, thedirection the sensor is facing and the angle between the sensor and theground. A location may be defined by three or more points.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the geo-spatial information of animage may be provided by the remote platform which collected theimagery. The remote platforms may be equipped with GPS and the remoteplatforms may provide their geo-spatial information when the imagery istaken. According to an exemplary embodiment, the remote platform mayinstead calculate the geo-spatial information of the image by some othermeans, such as, e.g., but not limited to, image recognition. The remoteplatform may simply provide information to the terminal and the terminalmay determine the field of view of the image.

From 606, flowchart 600 may continue with 608. In 608, the system maydetermine the geo-spatial information of one or more entities. Accordingto an exemplary embodiment, the system may access the geo-spatialinformation of an entity stored in a database. In another embodiment,the system may calculate the geo-spatial information of an entity. Forexample, the system may calculate the geo-spatial information of anentity in real-time based on information received from another monitoredinformation source. In another embodiment, the system may directlyreceive geo-spatial information of the entity from an external source.

From 608, flowchart 600 may continue with 610. In 610, the system maydetermine an entity is within the field of view. The system maydetermine the entity is within the field of view based on comparing thedetermined geo-spatial information of the entity and the field of viewof the imagery.

In an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may know the geo-spatialinformation for entities and may determine an entity is related to animage by comparing the geo-spatial information of the image to thegeo-spatial information of the entity. An entity may be related to animage if the geo-spatial information of the entity indicates the entitywas located in the imagery based off the location defined by thegeo-spatial information of the imagery. The system may take anygeo-spatialized imagery and compare the geo-spatial information of thefield of view of the imagery with the geo-spatial information of allentities at the time the imagery was taken. For all entities for whichthe geo-spatial information of the entity indicates the entity may befound within the field of view of the imagery, the entity may bedetermined to be in the field of view.

From 610, flowchart 600 may continue with 612. In 612, the system maycreate a relationship. According to an exemplary embodiment, theterminal may automatically create relationships between entities and theimagery based on the determination an entity is within the field of viewof the image. In an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may automaticallycreate relationships for an image by searching a database of entitiesfor entities that are located within the location of an image. Theterminal may create relationships between entities appearing in the sameimagery based on the determination made in 612. Relationships may bebetween imagery and entities or between entities. According to anexemplary embodiment, the relationships may be stored in the database.

From 612, flowchart 600 may end with 614. In an exemplary embodiment,the terminal may process both real-time and non real-time data. In thecase of non real-time data, imagery processed may be pre-recordedimagery and geo-spatial information of the entities may be historicaldata.

FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary flowchart 700 for capturing imagery inaccordance with exemplary embodiments. In an exemplary embodiment,intelligence may be collected manually or automatically. In the manualcollection method, the user may monitor a mission using live or recordedremote sensor intelligence, looking for important moments. In anexemplary embodiment, as these moments occur, the user may captureintelligence imagery by means of atomic interactions, such as a singlemouse click.

According to an exemplary embodiment, intelligence imagery may becaptured automatically, as shown in flowchart 700. Flowchart 700 beginswith 702 and continues with 704. In 704, the system receives collectioncriteria. The collection criteria may be received from a user. In anexemplary embodiment, a user may define collection criteria for theautomated capture of intelligence imagery. According to an exemplaryembodiment, users may define three types of collection criteria. Eachtype of collection criteria may correspond to its own workflow. A firstdefinition may allow the user to mark areas of interest (AOI) by drawingpolygonal regions (or any other type of region) on a map. A seconddefinition may allow the user to select existing or new entities ofinterest (EOI) for observation, such as, e.g., but not limited to, afacility, an artillery unit, a person, a vehicle, or an event, etc.

According to the exemplary definitions, the difference between an AOIand an EOI may be the AOI is a static area for observation while the EOIcan be moved around as the database is updated from intelligence reports(e.g., an artillery unit that moves once every week to a new knownlocation).

A third definition may allow the user to define collection criteriabased on another monitored information source, such as, e.g., but nolimited to, signals. The monitoring of signals may provide for signalactivation based imagery correlation or imagery capture. For example,signals monitored may be signals associated with wirelesscommunications. In an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may receive andmonitor wireless communications from wireless phones. According to anexemplary embodiment, EOI for observation may be based on collectioncriteria on another monitored information source. A user may definecollection criteria so that upon detecting a particular signal in thewireless communication, the terminal may define an event type entityassociated with the particular signal at the location in which thewireless phone is located, capture imagery in which the entity islocated, and correlate the captured imagery with the entity. Thelocation of the wireless phone at a particular time may be known basedon triangulation of the origin of the signal or other technical means.

From 704, flowchart 700 may continue with 706. In 706, the system maycalculate the field of view of the sensor. As remote sensor intelligencecomes into the system, the sensor's telemetry may be used to determineif the sensor's field of view intersects with an AOI or EOI. If it does,the system may capture imagery at pre-selected intervals, such as, e.g.,but not limited to, one minute intervals. Additional functions may beperformed, including for example, (1) perform geo-referencing, (2)relate the imagery to the AOI/EOI and mission, and (3) store the imageryand relations in the database. According to an exemplary embodiment,once the AOIs and EOIs have been established, the collection ofintelligence may be entirely automated.

In an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may determine a sensor's fieldof view intersects with an AOI by comparing the geo-spatial informationof imagery with the geo-spatial information of the AOI. If any of thelocations within the field of view of the sensor also fall within alocation within an AOI, the field of views may be consideredintersecting and the sensor may capture the imagery for the terminal.

In an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may determine a sensor's fieldof view intersects with an EOI in a similar manner. According to anexemplary embodiment, the terminal may compare the geo-spatialinformation of imagery with the geo-spatial information of the EOI. Theterminal may know the current geo-spatial information for EOIs, such as,e.g., but not limited to, the longitude and latitude of entities at agiven time.

From 706, flowchart 700 may continue with 708. In 708, the system maymonitor the field of view of the sensor. According to an exemplaryembodiment, the terminal may continuously determine the current field ofview of a sensor and search a database of EOIs for any EOI that islocated within the current field of view of the sensor at the time theimagery was sensed by the sensor.

From 708, flowchart 700 may continue with 710. In 710, the system mayinstruct the imagery to be captured. In an exemplary embodiment, if anentity is determined to be within the current field of view of a sensor,the field of view may be considered to be intersecting and imagery fromthe sensor may be captured. According to an exemplary embodiment, othercriteria may be used to determine if the field of view of a sensor andan EOI intersect. In an exemplary embodiment, image recognition forentities may be used for the current field of view of a sensor, and ifan entity is recognized, the field of view may be consideredintersecting and the imagery captured.

From 710, flowchart 700 may continue with 712 and end. In an exemplaryembodiment, for manual and automatic collection methods, capturedintelligence may be automatically associated with entities which arewithin the sensor's field of view when imagery is captured.

According to an exemplary embodiment, once intelligence has beencollected, it may be explored through the relationships automaticallycreated during capture. In an exemplary embodiment, once theserelationships have been constructed, a user may able to navigate complexrelationship graphs to discover knowledge about the structure of socialnetworks. According to an exemplary embodiment, these relationships mayalso be used to build collections of imagery based on search querycriteria, where the criteria is used to determine which relationshipsare followed when building the imagery list. In an exemplary embodiment,these tools may allow the analyst to quickly gather large amounts ofrelevant intelligence and to mine it for knowledge usingrelationship-based analysis tools, removing the need to record hours ofirrelevant remote sensor intelligence analysts must seek through to lookfor important moments.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the data may be real-time datacurrently being acquired from a remote sensor platform. In an exemplaryembodiment, the intelligence imagery may be non-real time and theterminal may determine relationships and if the data should be capturedbased on historical positioning data.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may include anextensible modular intelligence automation engine. In an exemplaryembodiment, the intelligence automation engine may perform workfloworchestrations that tie together components of the terminal and automatetasks to be executed by the terminal. According to an exemplaryembodiment, the engine may include a main control and a workflowmanagement process which manages a collection of independent workflowcomponents running in separate threads. The workflow components may bemodular “plug-ins” and may implement a common interface and life cycle.The workflow components may be compiled as separate independentcomponents allowing workflows to be easily added or removed. Workflowsmay also be created by a user using a graphical flow chart-basedworkflow creation tool. The user may draw flow-charts depicting complexintelligence automation tasks and have the tasks executed by theintelligence automation engine.

In an exemplary embodiment, each workflow component may correspond witha workflow. A first workflow' component may be to determine if imagerycontains an AOI, a second workflow component may be to determine ifimagery contains a pre-defined EOI, and a third workflow component maybe to monitor an information source to determine if imagery contains anobject of interest based on the monitored information. According to anexemplary embodiment, the modules may be enabled or disabled as needed.When processing imagery, the imagery may be processed using each moduleenabled.

Referring to FIG. 8, according to an exemplary embodiment, the terminalmay include a number of components to capture intelligence imageryinformation. In an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may include aremote sensor viewer 802 which may connect to live or recorded remotesensor intelligence. In an exemplary embodiment, the remote sensorviewer 802 may provide a “media player” style interface, decode platformtelemetry, and capture intelligence imagery to the database. Accordingto an exemplary embodiment, the remote sensor viewer 802 may createrelationships from the sensor intelligence and may determine when aplatform should capture data when using automated collection.

In an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may include a map component 804for displaying maps with overlaid MIL STD 2525B symbology for remotesensor platforms and entities from the database.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may include adatabase component 806 for a searchable relational database that storesentities and captured sensor imagery.

In an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may include an imagerythumbnail browser 808 for displaying thumbnails for imagery associatedwith selected AOI, EOI, or any other entity.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may include animagery viewer component 810 providing an interface for imageryexamination, annotation, and the association creation.

An exemplary embodiment of data flow is also depicted in FIG. 8.According to an exemplary embodiment, via dataflow 820, the remotesensor viewer 802 decodes platform telemetry and sends commands to themap component 804 to display the remote sensor platforms. According toan exemplary embodiment, the telemetry data may include information,such as, e.g., but not limited to location, heading, and altitude. In anexemplary embodiment, other information decoded by the remote sensorviewer 802 may include sensor stare point and footprint field of view.

According to an exemplary embodiment, via dataflow 822, the remotesensor viewer 802 may capture sensor imagery, perform geo-referencing,and store the sensor imagery and geo-referencing information in thedatabase 806.

In an exemplary embodiment, via dataflow 824, the imagery thumbnailbrowser 808 may display thumbnails which are associated with a currentlyselected entity (e.g., AOI, EOI or mission). According to an exemplaryembodiment, via dataflow 826, when a thumbnail is selected in theimagery browser 808, the selection may cause a command to be sent to theimagery viewer to display the selected imagery.

In an exemplary embodiment, via dataflow 828, the imagery viewer maysend commands to the map component 804 to display the sensor stare pointand footprint field of view of the currently selected image on the map.According to an exemplary embodiment via dataflow 830, the imageryviewer may provide a drag and drop interface for displaying and creatingrelationships between imagery and entities in the database 806. In anexemplary embodiment, the imagery viewer may provide an interface toother analysis tools (e.g., entity search, activities matrix, linkanalysis tool for viewing or creating relationships) via dataflow 832.

According to an exemplary embodiment, via dataflow 834, the map maydisplay entities from the database.

FIG. 9 depicts an exemplary interface of a terminal of the system inaccordance with exemplary embodiments. According to an exemplaryembodiment, the terminal may provide an interface for a user to interactwith the system.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the interface may allow a user touse an AOI for automated collection of intelligence imagery. In anexemplary embodiment, the user may select a pre-existing AOI or maycreate a new AOI. According to an exemplary embodiment, to create a newAOI, the user may define an AOI by, such as, e.g., but not limited to,drawing a polygon on the map, designating coordinates defining an area,etc.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the interface may also providesupport for viewing multiple live or recorded video streams, creation ofsnapshots from video, which may be saved to the database with theirgeo-spatial information, drag-and-drop creation of relationships betweendatabase entities and snapshots, and snapshot viewing & browsing byrelationship. The interface may provide graphical video overlays forplatform status info such as, e.g., but not limited to, telemetryinformation, heading, sensor depression, battery level, damage, etc. Theinterface may also display other metadata associated with intelligenceimagery.

In an exemplary embodiment, the interface may display one or moreimagery streams 902A and 902B from one or more UAVs. The interface maydisplay an association matrix 904 of various entities and relationshipsstored within the database. The interface may provide a map 906 for auser to view data geographically related and manipulate thegeographically represented data. The interface may provide a linkdiagram 908 for depicting the relationships between various entitiesstored by the database.

In an exemplary embodiment, the interface may provide a tabbed window910 for a time wheel, a text extraction tool, an advanced search tooland a media viewer. The media viewer may display media withcorresponding entities associated with the media. According to anexemplary embodiment, the interface may provide a media browser 912 fora user to view thumbnails of imagery intelligence. The interface mayalso include a properties area 914 for users to view and change theproperties stored within the database, such as, e.g., but not limited toproperties of entities and imagery data.

FIG. 10 depicts an exemplary alternate view of an interface 1000 of theterminal of the system in accordance with exemplary embodiments.According to an exemplary embodiment, the interface may allow videoviewers to be configured for as many platforms as there are feeds for.In an exemplary embodiment, the toolbox components may be arranged bythe user to create custom views. The custom views may be saved andrestored. In an exemplary embodiment, the interface may provide fullintegration with an Analysis and eXploration of Information Sources(AXIS) Pro tool to provide a common map with intelligence from AXIS Prosources, such as, e.g., but not limited to, Distributed Common GroundSystem-Army (DCGS-A), and/or Prophet, etc. According to an exemplaryembodiment, a multiple display user configured view may show two liveremote sensor feeds, a snapshot browser, a snapshot viewer, a linkanalysis tool, a text extraction tool, and a map showing sensortelemetry.

FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary view of an interface 1100 of the terminalproviding symbol overlay in accordance with exemplary embodiments.According to an exemplary embodiment, entities 1102, 1104, 1106, and1108 from the database may be overlaid on video and snapshots. In anexemplary embodiment, entities 1102, 1104, 1106, and 1108 may movearound as the sensor video pans based on geo-spatial calculations.Overlaid entities 1102, 1104, 1106, and 1108 may have adjustabletransparency and may be hide-able. In an exemplary embodiment, entities1102, 1104, 1106, and 1108 may be selected and moved around by the user,and the movements may update the entity's locations in the database.Entity selections may propagate to other aspects of the terminal, suchas, e.g., but not limited to, the properties editor and the map, etc.

FIG. 12 depicts an exemplary view of an interactive interface 1200 ofthe terminal providing imagery annotation 1202 in accordance withexemplary embodiments. According to an exemplary embodiment, theinterface 1200 may provide for non-destructive imagery annotation. In anexemplary embodiment, annotation 1202 may include, such as, e.g., butnot limited to, drawing, typing, stamping, labeling, including arrows,including shapes, etc. The interface 1200 may provide an annotationtransparency control for controlling the transparency of annotations.The interface 1200 may provide hide, show, edit, and delete annotationcapability. The interface 1200 may provide annotation of videos.

FIG. 13 depicts an exemplary view of a text extraction tool of aninterface 1300 of the terminal in accordance with exemplary embodiments.According to an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may receiveintelligence reports 1302. An intelligence report 1302 may be, forexample, an intelligence report 1302 from a checkpoint documenting thata terrorist has been spotted at a checkpoint in a particular vehicle.According to an exemplary embodiment, the text extraction tool of theterminal may allow a user to view the report and create databaseentities for items of interest based on the information in the report1302. In an exemplary embodiment, the entities may be created byhighlighting particular text and dragging and dropping the selections tovarious locations, such as, e.g.; but not limited to, icons representingparticular types of entities, property fields of existing entities, etc.

According to an exemplary embodiment, after an entity is created, a usermay use the properties editor to view and modify the properties of anentity. In an exemplary embodiment, properties of a vehicle entity mayinclude, quantity of equipment, speed, course, VIN, year, make, model,license number, and/or color, etc.

FIG. 14 depicts an exemplary view of an interface 1400 of the terminalof the system which may support searches and manipulation of entities inaccordance with exemplary embodiments. According to an exemplaryembodiment, entities of the database may be stored in a searchablerelational database. In an exemplary embodiment, the terminal mayprovide a search tool 1402 for a user to search the database usingcustom queries, such as, e.g., but not limited to a textual query.Entities retrieved from a query 1404 may be placed on a map using simpledrag and drop operations. In an exemplary embodiment, a vehicle entitymay be retrieved from a search and may be placed on the map. Theprevious locations of the vehicle entity may be selected to be displayedon the map. Other entities such as the locations of attack events and/orthe last known location of a person may be placed on the map.

FIG. 15 depicts an exemplary time wheel of an interface 1500 of theterminal of the system in accordance with exemplary embodiments.According to an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may provide a timewheel 1502 for analyzing the temporal relationship between events, suchas, e.g., but not limited to, attack ambush events on a route. In anexemplary embodiments, event entities may be dragged and dropped ontothe time wheel tool 1502.

According to an exemplary embodiment, a link analysis diagram may becreated based on the entities on a map. Intelligence imagery may bedisplayed on the interface in real time. According to an exemplaryembodiment, the interface may allow a user to take snapshots of liveimagery, which may be automatically associated using the aforementionedmethods previously described.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the media browser may displaysnapshots associated with a currently selected entity. Selecting asnapshot in the media browser may open a larger image of the snapshot inthe media viewer, which may provide a full screen view allowing a moredetailed examination of the image. According to an exemplary embodiment,the field of view of a snapshot, or foot print, may be displayed on themap, providing a spatial context for imagery analysis. In an exemplaryembodiment, the media viewer may also display entities associated withthe image, and may allow the user to search for entities associated withthe image.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the user may manually createrelationships between entities and intelligence imagery. Entities may beidentified by a user in the image. According to an exemplary embodiment,entities may be dragged and dropped onto a displayed image. In anexemplary embodiment, relationships may also be created through the linkanalysis tool, link diagram, or other components.

According to an exemplary embodiment, selecting an entity in anycomponent may display associated imagery in the media browser. Theinterface may allow a user to view all imagery related to an entityindependent of the source of the imagery, such as the platform thatoriginally captured the image.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the relationships between entitiesmay be explored and navigated following their links.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the system may integrate TacticalOps (TACOPS) AXIS Pro Intelligence analysis suite and may provide afusion of intelligence from multiple data sources, capture of liveremote sensor Intelligence to AXIS Pro database, geospatial analysis,link analysis, temporal & pattern analysis, and activities & associationmatrix analysis.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may be based on aTACOPS Viper application framework and may be developed in C#.NET.

In an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may also support creation ofvideo clips based on the intelligence imagery received.

FIG. 16 depicts an exemplary diagram 1600 of a system of unmanned aerialvehicle with a portable terminal 1602 and analysis terminal 1604 inaccordance with exemplary embodiments. According to an exemplaryembodiment, the system may include a variety of different types ofremote sensors, such as, e.g., but not limited to unmanned groundvehicles 1606, unmanned aerial vehicles 1608, helicopters 1610, hovervehicles 1612, and stationary sensing equipment. In an exemplaryembodiment, the intelligence information from the vehicles may beprovided to a portable mission terminal 1602 or an analysis terminal1604. In an exemplary embodiment, the analysis terminal 1604 may be astationary high performance analysis workstation or may be mobile.According to an exemplary embodiment, the portable mission terminal 1602may be a vehicle mounted live intelligence terminal.

FIG. 17 depicts an exemplary view of a portable mission terminal 1700 ofthe system in accordance with exemplary embodiments. According to anexemplary embodiment, the portable mission terminal may have hardwarebezel buttons 1702 around the screen 1704. In an exemplary embodiment,the portable mission terminal user interface may be tailored for usewith these buttons. The portable mission terminal may have amulti-function display (MFD) style user interface. In an exemplaryembodiment, primary interactions may be through bezel buttons or verylarge soft buttons which may appear on the screen when needed. Accordingto an exemplary embodiment, different functions may be separated intotab pages and bezel buttons may switch between tabs. User interactionsmay be designed for use by a soldier who is in a moving platform and iswearing gloves (i.e., fat fingers, no stylus). According to an exemplaryembodiment, the portable mission terminal may include an on-boardSelective Availability/Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) for determining thecurrent position of the portable mission terminal and/or displaying theposition of the portable mission terminal on a map.

FIG. 18 depicts an exemplary diagram 1800 of the flow of informationbetween a portable terminal 1802 and a stationary terminal 1804 inaccordance with exemplary embodiments. According to an exemplaryembodiment, the portable mission terminal 1802 may work together with ananalysis terminal 1804 to provide end-to-end intelligence collection andanalysis. In an exemplary mission scenario, a soldier may pre-load theportable mission terminal 1802 with database entities specific to thecurrent mission. The soldier may perform mission and use the portablemission terminal 1802 to collect live intelligence. In an exemplaryembodiment, post-mission, the soldier may download the database from theportable mission terminal 1802 to the analysis terminal 1804. An analystmay use the analysis terminal 1804 to mine the data for knowledge. In anexemplary embodiment, the data from the portable mission terminal 1802may be automatically downloaded to the analysis terminal 1804.

FIGS. 20-26 provide additional exemplary embodiments of the above notedfeatures and functions of the present invention. FIG. 20 depicts anexemplary diagram of a relationship diagram depicted by an interface ofthe terminal in accordance with the present embodiments. According to anexemplary embodiment, FIG. 21 depicts an exemplary expanded diagram of arelationship diagram depicted by an interface of the terminal inaccordance with the present embodiments. FIG. 22 depicts an exemplarydiagram of the creation of a relationship in a relationship diagramdepicted by an interface of the terminal in accordance with the presentembodiments. FIG. 23 depicts an exemplary diagram of an exemplary resultof a creation of a relationship in a relationship diagram depicted by aninterface of the terminal in accordance with the present embodiments.FIG. 24 depicts an exemplary diagram of hardware types of the system inaccordance with the present embodiments. According to an exemplaryembodiment, the hardware may be vehicle mounted or may be fixedemplacement hardware. FIG. 25 depicts an exemplary diagram of aninterface of the terminal depicting a link diagram displayingrelationships between various entities. According to an exemplaryembodiment, the entities may represent individuals, vehicles, missions,events, and/or locations. FIG. 26 depicts an exemplary diagram of adetailed view of a map of the interface of the terminal representingentities and the field of view of an image. According to an exemplaryembodiment, the field of view of an image may be represented by a whiteshaded area on the map.

Exemplary Communications Embodiments

FIG. 19 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a computer system 1900 thatmay be used in association with, in connection with, and/or in place of,but not limited to, any of the foregoing components and/or systems. Inan exemplary embodiment, the computer system represents animplementation of one or more of the components of FIG. 3. According toan exemplary embodiment, the terminal may be implemented using acomputer system. In another embodiment, computer readable program codefor causing a computer system to perform a method for automatedcollection and correlation for tactical information may be stored incomputer readable medium of a computer system.

The present embodiments (or any part(s) or function(s) thereof) may beimplemented using hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereofand may be implemented in one or more computer systems or otherprocessing systems. In fact, in one exemplary embodiment, the inventionmay be directed toward one or more computer systems capable of carryingout the functionality described herein. An example of a computer system1900 is shown in FIG. 19, depicting an exemplary embodiment of a blockdiagram of an exemplary computer system useful for implementing thepresent invention. Specifically, FIG. 19 illustrates an example computer1900, which in an exemplary embodiment may be, e.g., (but not limitedto) a personal computer (PC) system running an operating system such as,e.g., (but not limited to) WINDOWS MOBILE™ for POCKET PC, or MICROSOFT®WINDOWS® NT/98/2000/XP/CE/, etc. available from MICROSOFT® Corporationof Redmond, Wash., U.S.A., SOLARIS® from SUN® Microsystems of SantaClara, Calif., U.S.A., OS/2 from IBM® Corporation of Armonk, N.Y.,U.S.A., Mac/OS from APPLE® Corporation of Cupertino, Calif., U.S.A.,etc., or any of various versions of UNIX® (a trademark of the Open Groupof San Francisco, Calif., USA) including, e.g., LINUX®, HPUX®, IBM AIX®,and SCO/UNIX®, etc. However, the invention may not be limited to theseplatforms. Instead, the invention may be implemented on any appropriatecomputer system running any appropriate operating system. In oneexemplary embodiment, the present invention may be implemented on acomputer system operating as discussed herein. An exemplary computersystem, computer 1900 is shown in FIG. 19. Other components of theinvention, such as, e.g., (but not limited to) a computing device, acommunications device, a telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA),a personal computer (PC), a handheld PC, client workstations, thinclients, thick clients, proxy servers, network communication servers,remote access devices, client computers, server computers, routers, webservers, data, media, audio, video, telephony or streaming technologyservers, etc., may also be implemented using a computer such as thatshown in FIG. 19.

The computer system 1900 may include one or more processors, such as,e.g., but not limited to, processor(s) 1904. The processor(s) 1904 maybe connected to a communication infrastructure 1906 (e.g., but notlimited to, a communications bus, cross-over bar, or network, etc.).Various exemplary software embodiments may be described in terms of thisexemplary computer system. After reading this description, it willbecome apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art(s) how toimplement the invention using other computer systems and/orarchitectures.

Computer system 1900 may include a display interface 1902 that mayforward, e.g., but not limited to, graphics, text, and other data, etc.,from the communication infrastructure 1906 (or from a frame buffer,etc., not shown) for display on the display unit 1930.

The computer system 1900 may also include, e.g., but may not be limitedto, a main memory 1908, random access memory (RAM), and a secondarymemory 1910, etc. The secondary memory 1910 may include, for example,(but not limited to) a hard disk drive 1912 and/or a removable storagedrive 1914, representing a floppy diskette drive, a magnetic tape drive,an optical disk drive, a compact disk drive CD-ROM, etc. The removablestorage drive 1914 may, e.g., but not limited to, read from and/or writeto a removable storage unit 1918 in a well known manner. Removablestorage unit 1918, also called a program storage device or a computerprogram product, may represent, e.g., but not limited to, a floppy disk,magnetic tape, optical disk, compact disk, etc. which may be read fromand written to by removable storage drive 1914. As will be appreciated,the removable storage unit 1918 may include a computer usable storagemedium having stored therein computer software and/or data.

In alternative exemplary embodiments, secondary memory 1910 may includeother similar devices for allowing computer programs or otherinstructions to be loaded into computer system 1900. Such devices mayinclude, for example, a removable storage unit 1922 and an interface1920. Examples of such may include a program cartridge and cartridgeinterface (such as, e.g., but not limited to, those found in video gamedevices), a removable memory chip (such as, e.g., but not limited to, anerasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), or programmable readonly memory (PROM) and associated socket, and other removable storageunits 1922 and interfaces 1920, which may allow software and data to betransferred from the removable storage unit 1922 to computer system1900.

Computer 1900 may also include an input device such as, e.g., (but notlimited to) a mouse or other pointing device such as a digitizer, and akeyboard or other data entry device (none of which are labeled).

Computer 1900 may also include output devices, such as, e.g., (but notlimited to) display 1930, and display interface 1902. Computer 1900 mayinclude input/output (I/O) devices such as, e.g., (but not limited to)communications interface 1924, cable 1928 and communications path 1926,etc. These devices may include, e.g., but not limited to, a networkinterface card, and modems (neither are labeled). Communicationsinterface 1924 may allow software and data to be transferred betweencomputer system 1900 and external devices. Examples of communicationsinterface 1924 may include, e.g., but may not be limited to, a modem, anetwork interface (such as, e.g., an Ethernet card), a communicationsport, a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA)slot and card, etc. Software and data transferred via communicationsinterface 1924 may be in the form of signals 1928 which may beelectronic, electromagnetic, optical or other signals capable of beingreceived by communications interface 1924. These signals 1928 may beprovided to communications interface 1924 via, e.g., but not limited to,a communications path 1926 (e.g., but not limited to, a channel). Thischannel 1926 may carry signals 1928, which may include, e.g., but notlimited to, propagated signals, and may be implemented using, e.g., butnot limited to, wire or cable, fiber optics, a telephone line, acellular link, an radio frequency (RF) link and other communicationschannels, etc.

In this document, the terms “computer program medium” and “computerreadable medium” may be used to generally refer to media such as, e.g.,but not limited to removable storage drive 1914, a hard disk installedin hard disk drive 1912, and signals 1928, etc. These computer programproducts may provide software to computer system 1900. The invention maybe directed to such computer program products.

References to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “example embodiment,”“various embodiments,” etc., may indicate that the embodiment(s) of theinvention so described may include a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic, but not every embodiment necessarily includes theparticular feature, structure, or characteristic. Further, repeated useof the phrase “in one embodiment,” or “in an exemplary embodiment,” donot necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although they may.

In the following description and claims, the terms “coupled” and“connected,” along with their derivatives, may be used. It should beunderstood that these terms are not intended as synonyms for each other.Rather, in particular embodiments, “connected” may be used to indicatethat two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contactwith each other. “Coupled” may mean that two or more elements are indirect physical or electrical contact. However, “coupled” may also meanthat two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, butyet still co-operate or interact with each other.

An algorithm is here, and generally, considered to be a self-consistentsequence of acts or operations leading to a desired result. Theseinclude physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, thoughnot necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical ormagnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined,compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times,principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals asbits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers or the like.It should be understood, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the followingdiscussions, it is appreciated that throughout the specificationdiscussions utilizing terms such as “processing,” “computing,”“calculating,” “determining,” or the like, refer to the action and/orprocesses of a computer or computing system, or similar electroniccomputing device, that manipulate and/or transform data represented asphysical, such as electronic, quantities within the computing system'sregisters and/or memories into other data similarly represented asphysical quantities within the computing system's memories, registers orother such information storage, transmission or display devices.

In a similar manner, the term “processor” may refer to any device orportion of a device that processes electronic data from registers and/ormemory to transform that electronic data into other electronic data thatmay be stored in registers and/or memory. A “computing platform” maycomprise one or more processors.

Embodiments of the present invention may include apparatuses forperforming the operations herein. An apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the desired purposes, or it may comprise a generalpurpose device selectively activated or reconfigured by a program storedin the device.

Embodiments of the invention may be implemented in one or a combinationof hardware, firmware, and software. Embodiments of the invention mayalso be implemented as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium,which may be read and executed by a computing platform to perform theoperations described herein. A machine-readable medium may include anymechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable bya machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a machine-readable medium mayinclude read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magneticdisk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices;electrical, optical, acoustical or other form of propagated signals(e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.), andothers.

Computer programs (also called computer control logic), may includeobject oriented computer programs, and may be stored in main memory 1908and/or the secondary memory 1910 and/or removable storage units 1914,also called computer program products. Such computer programs, whenexecuted, may enable the computer system 1900 to perform the features ofthe present invention as discussed herein. In particular, the computerprograms, when executed, may enable the processor 1904 to provide amethod to resolve conflicts during data synchronization according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. Accordingly, suchcomputer programs may represent controllers of the computer system 1900.

In another exemplary embodiment, the invention may be directed to acomputer program product comprising a computer readable medium havingcontrol logic (computer software) stored therein. The control logic,when executed by the processor 1904, may cause the processor 1904 toperform the functions of the invention as described herein. In anotherexemplary embodiment where the invention may be implemented usingsoftware, the software may be stored in a computer program product andloaded into computer system 1900 using, e.g., but not limited to,removable storage drive 1914, hard drive 1912 or communicationsinterface 1924, etc. The control logic (software), when executed by theprocessor 1904, may cause the processor 1904 to perform the functions ofthe invention as described herein. The computer software may run as astandalone software application program running atop an operatingsystem, or may be integrated into the operating system.

In yet another embodiment, the invention may be implemented primarily inhardware using, for example, but not limited to, hardware componentssuch as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or one or morestate machines, etc. Implementation of the hardware state machine so asto perform the functions described herein will be apparent to personsskilled in the relevant art(s).

In another exemplary embodiment, the invention may be implementedprimarily in firmware.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the invention may be implementedusing a combination of any of, e.g., but not limited to, hardware,firmware, and software, etc.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention may also be implemented asinstructions stored on a machine-readable medium, which may be read andexecuted by a computing platform to perform the operations describedherein. A machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storingor transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputer). For example, a machine-readable medium may include read onlymemory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media;optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical, optical,acoustical or other form of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves,infrared signals, digital signals, etc.), and others.

The exemplary embodiment of the present invention makes reference towired, or wireless networks. Wired networks include any of a widevariety of well known means for coupling voice and data communicationsdevices together. A brief discussion of various exemplary wirelessnetwork technologies that may be used to implement the embodiments ofthe present invention now are discussed. The examples are non-limited.Exemplary wireless network types may include, e.g., but not limited to,code division multiple access (CDMA), spread spectrum wireless,orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), 1G, 2G, 3G wireless,Bluetooth, Infrared Data Association (IrDA), shared wireless accessprotocol (SWAP), “wireless fidelity” (Wi-Fi), WIMAX, and other IEEEstandard 802.11-compliant wireless local area network (LAN),802.16-compliant wide area network (WAN), and ultrawideband (UWB), etc.

Bluetooth is an emerging wireless technology promising to unify severalwireless technologies for use in low power radio frequency (RF)networks.

IrDA is a standard method for devices to communicate using infraredlight pulses, as promulgated by the Infrared Data Association from whichthe standard gets its name. Since IrDA devices use infrared light, theymay depend on being in line of sight with each other.

The exemplary embodiments of the present invention may make reference toWLANs. Examples of a WLAN may include a shared wireless access protocol(SWAP) developed by Home radio frequency (HomeRF), and wireless fidelity(Wi-Fi), a derivative of IEEE 802.11, advocated by the wireless Ethernetcompatibility alliance (WECA). The IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN standardrefers to various technologies that adhere to one or more of variouswireless LAN standards. An IEEE 802.11 compliant wireless LAN may complywith any of one or more of the various IEEE 802.11 wireless LANstandards including, e.g., but not limited to, wireless LANs compliantwith IEEE std. 802.11a, b, d or g, such as, e.g., but not limited to,IEEE std. 802.11a, b, d and g, (including, e.g., but not limited to IEEE802.11g-2003, etc.), etc.

CONCLUSION

While various embodiments of the present invention have been describedabove, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of thepresent invention should not be limited by any of the above-describedexemplary embodiments, but should instead be defined only in accordancewith the following claims and their equivalents.

1. A method for automated collection and correlation for tacticalinformation, the method comprising: identifying an entity in imagerybased on a field of view of the imagery using a processor; creating arelationship between the imagery and the entity; and storing therelationship in a database.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein saididentifying the entity comprises: determining geo-spatial information ofthe entity indicating the entity is within the field of view of theimagery.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising: receivinggeo-spatial information of the entity.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprises: determining the field of view of the imagery based ongeo-spatial information regarding a remote sensor sensing the imagery.5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: receiving the imagery froma remote sensor.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein said remote sensorcomprises an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein said imagery comprises at least one of video clips or snapshots.8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: capturing imagery with aremote sensor.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the entity comprises atleast one of a person, a vehicle, an event, a facility, or an object.10. The method of claim 9, wherein the entity is defined based oninformation from at least one of an event or signal activation.
 11. Acomputer readable medium storing computer readable program code forcausing a computer to perform a method for automated collection andcorrelation for tactical information, the method comprising: receivingcriteria for capturing imagery; monitoring a field of view of a remotesensor using a processor; identifying an intersection of the field ofview and the criteria using the processor; and instructing imagery ofthe remote sensor to be captured based on the identification.
 12. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 11, said method further comprising:calculating the field of view of the remote sensor based on geo-spatialinformation from the remote sensor.
 13. The computer readable medium ofclaim 11, wherein said identifying the intersection comprises:determining geo-spatial information of an entity indicating the entityis within the field of view of the sensor.
 14. The computer readablemedium of claim 11, wherein said identifying an intersection comprises:searching a database of entities to determine the geo-spatialinformation of at least one entity intersects with the field of view ofthe sensor.
 15. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein saididentifying the intersection comprises: determining geo-spatialinformation of an area of interest indicating at least a portion of thearea of interest is within the field of view of the sensor.
 16. Thecomputer readable medium of claim 11, wherein said instructing imageryof the remote sensor to be captured comprises: capturing imagery with aremote sensor.
 17. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein thecriteria comprises at least one of a person, a vehicle, an event, afacility, or an object.
 18. The computer readable medium of claim 17,wherein the criteria is defined based on information from at least oneof an event or signal activation.
 19. A device for automated collectionand correlation for tactical information, the device comprising: meansfor receiving imagery and telemetry data from a remote sensor; means forreceiving entity information; and means for correlating the imagery withthe entity information based on the telemetry data.
 20. The device ofclaim 19, further comprising: means for generating correlationinformation based on the correlation.
 21. The device of claim 20,further comprising: means for storing the correlation information in adatabase.
 22. The device of claim 21, wherein said means for correlatingcomprises: means for determining geo-spatial information based on thetelemetry data.
 23. The device of claim 19, wherein said means forcorrelating further comprises: means for comparing the entityinformation and the geo-spatial information.
 24. The device of claim 19,further comprising: means for capturing imagery and telemetry data. 25.The device of claim 19, wherein the entity comprises at least one of aperson, a vehicle, an event, a facility, or an object.
 26. The device ofclaim 19, wherein the entity is defined based on information from atleast one of an event or signal activation.
 27. The device of claim 19,wherein said means for receiving imagery and telemetry data comprises acommunications interface.
 28. The device of claim 19, wherein said meansfor receiving entity information comprises an secondary memoryinterface.
 29. The device of claim 19, wherein said means forcorrelating the imagery comprises a processor.